Team 14: Adaptable Prosthetic Socket

Below knee (BK) amputees face acute diurnal volume changes in their residual limb. These daily fluctuations cause pressure sores, poor gait, decrease in proprioception, and pistoning within their prosthetic often leading to rejection of the device or, in extreme cases, reamputation. Despite this, prosthetic sockets built today remain rigid and non conforming to the human body. Our team developed a method of adjusting the internal volume of the socket. Utilizing force sensitive resistors (FSR) and custom designed 3D printed air bladders located in critical locations of the socket, changes in fit can be detected and adapted for, to maintain total contact throughout daily activities. Paired with a phone app programmed by the practitioner, the socket can maintain ideal fit per patient and record volume change trends to further improve fit. In future work, electronics and motors should be redesigned to not only to decrease weight and make it more compact, but also to make the device waterproof and robust to endure the daily wear and tear. Further testing should be done on patients to measure the comfort, changes in gait, proprioception, and overall acceptance of the adaptable prosthetic socket design compared to traditional prosthetics.

No commercially available prosthetic socket design can apply constant force on the residual limb in response to changes in both volume and daily activity to prevent malalignment or infection due to high contact pressures. 

The goal of our project is to develop a smart socket that changes its fit to provide a more comfortable experience for below knee amputees in response to volumetric changes. This can be broken into our top five goals: safety, comfort, ease of operation, durability, and reliability.